Analysis: Legal ‘Cannabis Light’ in Switzerland

We were in Switzerland this summer for a festival and as such, while we’re there, we also figured it was a good idea to pick up some ‘Cannabis Light’: cannabis with less than 1% of THC and instead, CBD.

Cannabis Light: available in supermarkets?

Having heard much about them, we stumbled upon an empty package at first at the festival. It weren’t cigarettes however, much more a package for rolling tobacco. What caught our attention immediately were the typical tobacco warnings on the package. Someone tipped us off they were available at a grocery shop chain, COOP.

As such, having left the festival, we ended up in Lausanne and decided to walk into a small COOP supermarket. It turned out to be a rather small one and they had no Cannabis Light stocked up. So the myth of the Cannabis Light being available everywhere, was immediately debunked.

The cigarettes themselves were flying off the shelves and they were all out of stock

But only a couple doors from the COOP, we found a tobacco shop that did grant success. I immediately saw some packages under the glass counter, but decided to ask in my best French for some ‘Hanf’ (woops… meant Chanvre!) Cannabis Light. As it turned out, the cigarettes themselves were flying off the shelves and they were all out of stock. The woman behind the counter explained this was for her the reason to delve into the subject matter of CBD.

What was available were about 10, maybe 15 different kind of Cannabis Light products. They all varied in packaging, branding and in the end I simply picked 3 of which CPURE by BioCan, SOMA by CBDistrict and Black Widow by Future Grow. For a more detailed individual review of these products, make sure to click through.

They weren’t exactly cheap, as I found out when wanting to pay. For 3 grams of CPure you pay 25 Swiss Francs (21 euros), the 1.2 grams of Soma by CBDistrict 19 Francs (16 euros) and for the 1.68 grams of Black Widow you pay 24.90 Francs (20 euros). Then again, the average income in Switzerland is around 3000 euros a month. About double the average income in the Netherlands for example.

They weren’t exactly cheap

Opening the package of SOMA and CPure, immediately gave a nice smell and good looking buds. Which I found to be more odd than the actual Swiss CBD cigarettes, considering these are bought at a tobacco shop. Only the Black Widow disappointed: after opening the package the buds are still in a baggie. Whereas you would think they’d move on from ‘drug paraphernalia’…

But the SOMA and CPure were actually not bad at all. However, it is also a little bit boring. You don’t share a a CBD cigarette with a friend for example. There’s no point. They do burn just fine. Mixing with tobacco (like a joint) is a no-go.

In addition to it being ridiculous, considering it’s branded a tobacco replacement, it also doesn’t taste good with regular tobacco at all.

So Cannabis Light: Yay, or nay?

Coming from a Dutch, quasi legal, point of view: this Cannabis Light is more like a gimmick. For the Swiss themselves though, it is a huge improvement for the normalisation. People are buying it and using it. You can also see how they can easily make the switch to serve THC too.

Cannabis Light should be considered a wake-up call

For the rest of the world, it should be considered a wake-up call. The tobacco industry in Switzerland is huge, you see fields everywhere, and this seems very much like a testcase of how they can play a role in the cannabis industry.

Especially for the Dutch styled coffeeshops, but also for Cannabis Social Clubs and dispensaries, they should take into consideration the possibility of a future without neither. The tobacco industry is more than capable to cultivate and distribute cannabis. They already have the logistics, farmers and outlets selling products everywhere…